In the fall, my husband Kevin and I make batches of hamburger soup with local ingredients. We freeze the soup into lunch and supper portions and squirrel them away in the freezer for a cozy meal on a cold winter night.

We use the pressure cooker setting on our Ninja but you can also use a slow cooker.

We love supporting local and we use locally grown produce and grass fed beef from a local farm.

This low sodium, hearty soup is chock full of flavour and nutrients. Grass fed beef is so lean and tasty and it’s a great source of protein, iron, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin E. Grass fed beef contains less saturated fat and more essential omega 3 fats compared to grain fed beef.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 3 cartons (900 ml each) no added salt beef broth 
• 28 oz no added salt diced tomatoes or canned whole tomatoes chopped 
• 3-4 large carrots diced (about 2 cups)
• 4-5 large celery stalks diced (about 2 cups)
• 1  large onion chopped
• 1 - 1 1/4 cups pot barley rinsed
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 Tbsp garlic minced 

Directions:

1. Brown hamburger with onion in a 6 quart Ninja Foodi on the seer setting
2. Add rest of the ingredients and stir
3. Put the pressure cooker lid on and twist and lock. Make sure vent is closed
4. Turn setting to pressure cook. Pressure cook for 15 minutes *note that it takes approximately 30 minutes to pressure up* 
5. Let it naturally depressurize for at least 15 minutes
6. Turn vent to open to depressurize 
7. Once there isn’t anymore steam coming out and it’s fully depressurized, you can unlock lid

If using a slow cooker

1. Brown ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium heat
2. Transfer to slow cooker
3. Add the rest of the ingredients 
4. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours, until vegetables and barley are tender

Enjoy!

Cool the rest completely in the fridge and then freeze.

Food safety tip: 

Cool the soup in big shallow bowls in fridge overnight prior to freezing. The faster it cools down the less risk of food borne illness (food poisoning).

Freezing tip:

We use 2 ladles per lunch serving and 3 ladles per supper serving.

For smaller appetites try 1 ladle per lunch serving and 2 ladles per supper serving.

Nourishing the body nourishes  the soul!